The
Tour of Utah (TOU) has finally started. I woke up in morning giddy with
excitement. The race was finally starting. All of the prep days where over, and
now the real job began. Picking up signs and sand bags. It does not sound all
that fun, but it is. I get to ride in the back of the caravan, which is pretty
awesome
The Start
Rich
and I arrived at the start line two hours before the start. It was a beautiful
cool morning with a few scattered clouds. We gathered cases of water and the
crew’s lunches from the food truck and put our truck into position at the end
of the rear caravan vehicles. Then we attended the caravan drivers meeting.
Technically speaking our sweeper truck is outside of the caravan, but it is
good to know what goes on. I stayed for a few minutes, then left to go see the
riders. Turns out I should of stayed because they passed out mini profile maps
of all of the stages. Rich tapped his to the steering wheel just like the teams
do in their team cars. So pro.
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| Caravan drivers meeting |
As
I walked back to the truck after wandering around for a while. I saw Chris
Horner walk out of a coffee shop. He rode up to the corner and began looking
around with a confused look on his face. I knew what he looking for, the team
buses. I spoke up and said “Hey, Chris you looking for the team buses. Chris
said “Yeah” and then I gave him directions. Chris said “Thanks man” and then
road away. Yeah, I just gave a Vuelta champ directions. Pretty sweet, right!
Everything is heavier
at 10,000 ft
Finally,
the race started and it was on. The riders flew out of town with race radio
reporting speeds of 40 mph, on a flat road, for the first 10 minutes of the
race. The riders were going insane. Finally, things calmed down once the break
went up the road. The signs Rich and I pick up are course arrows and A-frame
cardboard signs that have the KOM, Sprint, and Feed Zone information written on
them. This job is no walk in the park because we are always jumping out of the
truck, taking down the signs, and jumping back in the truck. When I say jumping
in and out I mean it, at least for me. A Ford F-350 is pretty high up.
The
first KOM of stage one at Brian Head climbed up to over 10,000 feet. To say least everything
is harder when you are high up. I would pick up a sign that would maybe take 10
seconds and when I got back in the truck my heart was racing.
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| Beautiful Brian Head |
The Finish
The
finish of stage one had four finishing circuits in Cedar City. The rear of the
caravan would only do the final circuit so Rich and I hopped out of the truck
to watch the race zoom by. I stood amongst the soigneurs from the teams offering
bottles to the riders. The riders would come zooming by mere inches from me. It
was pretty sweet. Rich and I got on to the back of the field with the rest of
rear caravan one the final lap and picked up the signage on the circuit. We met
up with the rest of the crew at the 1K to go arch. We helped them take down the
arch and then found a grassy field to do our sign sort. Our daily sign sort
includes off loading the signs and sand bags from Rich and I’s truck and
putting them back into the course advance trucks. After our sign sort was done
we made the picturesque drive to Panguitch where stage two would start.
For
dinner the crew went to a smokehouse café where the food was amazing. We waited
around for 1.5hrs for a table, but most everyone agreed it was worth the wait.
I wrote this post this morning before stage two because last night I ate way
too much and got a bad stomachache.
Stage
one of the TOU was like a postcard. The views were absolutely amazing. Make
sure to check out my slideshow below. Most of the pictures are landscapes. For
stage two I will try to get more of behind the scenes of the race.
#Livin’theDream
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